Absconding Zebra
by Unleash The Shadow
Summary: A drabble series, starting with Abscond and ending with Zebra. A look into the general everyday lives of the team, from pizza to pianos to saving the day! Includes appearances from all members.
1. Abscond

**So yeah… It's been a while. I've been busy with a lot of things, but I've decided to try my hand at writing again. And what better way to start writing again but with a drabble series? **

**Not my best work and any helpful criticism is appreciated. This is going to be one of those alphabet drabble series. **

**I will try to finish my currently unfinished series. I'm thinking of picking up one of the plots up once I get back my hand in writing. Haven't wrote any of these characters yet so I guess this drabble will help me develop a style for them? xD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this!**

_Abscond – to run away from a place where you should stay, sometimes with something that you should not take._

His laughing could be heard throughout the cave and even Conner couldn't pinpoint from where it was coming from.

"He's got to teach me some of ninja tricks of his!" Wally whined. "I'm totally not thrilled of spending my Sunday running laps around the cave trying to find him."

"Why are we looking for him in the first place?" M'gann asked silently from her spot above their heads.

"Green Cheeks! Can you use your telepathy or something to find him?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to read minds."

"It's okay in this case!"

"And I repeat the earlier question, why are we looking for Robin?" Kaldur quietly stepped forward. He obviously was swimming due to the puddle that was slowly forming at his feet.

"He probably took something of Wally's," Artemis mumbled from the sidelines. "I don't want anything to do with this."

"Come on Artie! Help me out here."

"Not on your life Baywatch."

"What are we looking for?" Conner had rejoined them after – unsuccessfully – trying to find Robin with his still developing vision. "I'm not going to help you until I know what exactly I'm doing."

Everyone turned to look at Wally. He gave them all a hopeless look before finally giving in. "He took my science textbook."

There was complete silence for a few moments until they heard a loud thump from behind them. Wally rushed to the scene to find what looked like his science book.

"Yes!" He opened it to make sure none of the pristine pages were harmed in the rough handling the book received.

"Are those math formulas?"

"ROBIN!"

The laughing of their other teammate was the only indication that he has ever even been in the room.

**Any reviews will be appreciated :D**


	2. Bat

**Random idea that came to me after rewatching that episode from The Batman. Once again, any helpful comments will be appreciated. Still trying to get back into the hang of things xD**

**I don't own any of the characters.**

_Bat - __any __of __numerous__ flying__ mammals of the order __Chiroptera,__of__ worldwide__ distribution in tropical and temperate regions, having modified forelimbs that __serve__ as __wings__ and are covered with a membranous skin extending to __the__ hind limbs. _

"Once Robin finds us we'll be so dead," Wally muttered from his position.

"You're worried about _Robin_? _Batman_ will chew us alive," Artemis slapped Wally on the back of his head.

"But we started this mess, and we'll have to clean it up," Kaldur silently stood up. "Let's split up and search for the-"

"Are those actual bats?" Wally rudely interrupted.

"Where?"

"Up there!" He pointed to the sky. "And is that a giant bat?"

True enough, there were a bunch of bats circling above Wayne Tower and joining them was a giant thing that could only be described as a batman, in the literal definition of the word. It wasn't long before they saw Robin run from the rooftop. He fired his grappling gun and swung onto the bat.

"Is he insane? Ohmygodhe'sgonnadie! Andohmygodwegottahelphim!"

"Calm down Wally, I'm sure he knows what he's doing," Artemis attempted to still Wally's tirade.

It was then that the thing finally noticed them watching and veered toward them.

"Split up!" Kaldur yelled, flinging himself off the side of the building they were on.

What happened next they would remember for a very long time. Robin grabbed a hold of the things ears and started _steering_ it.

"He's insane!" Artemis exclaimed following Robin's actions with her eyes.

Robin then steered the Man-Bat into an abandoned building that they were standing on moments ago.

"He'sgonnakillhimself!" Wally was trying to run up to the thing and save Robin.

But that was unnecessary. At the last possible moment, Robin jumped off and fired a grappling hook to the nearby building and landing safely on his feet on the street.

"Give it up Langstrom. Your appearance should be wearing off right about now," Robin started walking toward the wreckage.

From the wreckage stumbled a pale man in a ripped shirt and pants.

"Okay guys, we're never going into Gotham without Rob again. Nor are we going to bring this incident up every again, right?"

"Right," the other two companions agreed.

"This city is literally batty," Kaldur mumbled to himself before following his other two companions.

**Teehee. Stay out of Gotham if you know what's good for your sanity :P**


	3. Concilliabule

**I couldn't resist when I found this word. I'll give e-cookies to whoever figures out what the object was.**

**I don't own Young Justice.**

_Concilliabule - A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot._

"Are we positive that she keeps it in that room?"

"Yes."

"Are you positive?"

"Dude, I work for the greatest detective on Earth."

"Point taken."

"So how are we going to acquire this contraption?" another voice joined the conversation.

"Don't worry Kal, she won't see us coming."

"Why do you even want to steal that? It's disgusting."

"It's the ultimate prank!"

"Stealing her hygienic necessities is a prank?"

"Of course it is, great leader. The look on her face will be priceless!"

"Wally, sometimes I wonder how we're friends."

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

Red Tornado walked into the common room of the cave. Seeing the sofas pulled in together with a blanket draped over their backs and a soft light emitting from beneath them, he wisely chose not to question whatever it was that his charges were up to now.

Later, he almost wished he had.

_Almost._

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

"WALLACE WEST, GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"Totally worth it," the man in question whispered to his companions.

"What was worth it? Stealing a box of… whatever that is?"

"Robin, my friend, this is a necessity of every girl. Especially at this time the month."

At that moment, Artemis found the three males in question. Completely disregarding Robin and Kaldur, she focused her attention on Wally. "You're not getting away with this."

"Actually, I think I am," Wally chose that moment to put on his super speed and get the hell out of the room.

Red Tornado, with Robin and Kaldur by his side, calmly watched Artemis chase Wally down around the cave. "What was it that Kid Flash has taken from Artemis?"

"You don't want to know Red," Robin sighed. "Trust me on this one."

**Well…. This came out of nowhere. And honestly, I have no idea how to pronounce that word. But it looked cool!**

**Any reviews will be appreciated. :D**


	4. Dissonant

**I blame this on SOPA. I'm getting all emo because of sites and how serious this issue had become. So I started listening to Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood soundtracks. And those songs are depressing. **

**I think this is Kaldur playing, no idea what he is playing or if they even have musical instruments in Atlantis. It was meant to be Wally, then Artemis, then Robin, and then it became Kaldur. No idea, sorta was a free writing challenge. Originally I planned D to be Drunk and was looking forward to it. But for the last two weeks I couldn't get the inspiration and I decided to write **_**this**_** instead.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

_Dissonant – disagreeing or harsh in sound._

It wasn't right.

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

He had always wanted to be on a team, to work with others like him. He was supposed to be the leader, the mature one. He was supposed to look out for them.

He continued playing his haunting melody.

He noticed the others watching him, but he said nothing of it. Their looks were enough to tell him what they thought of him. He had failed them, he had failed his mentor.

The youngest tried offering his comfort by putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly. The leader didn't have the heart to tell him that he had hardly felt it due to his physical build-up.

He continued playing.

By now, the melody had started sounding haunting. The others wouldn't leave at all now, as if the music was drawing them in.

The chords were sounding weird.

The girls were more emotional than the guys. They had distressed looked on their faces as they continued listening to the melody.

He was almost at the end of the improvised piece.

The last chord struck a note with every single person in the room.

It was… dissonant.

**Yeah… no idea what happened. I'm still listening to the song. It's my like 7****th**** time.**

**Don't forget to leave a review **


	5. Euonym

**Needed something to take my thoughts away from SOPA and the stuff. I got my other fic to worry about with depressing thoughts and complicated issues, so this will be more comic relief than anything. So here's a snipper between Artemis and Robin in their everyday lives.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Euonym - a pleasing or beautiful name._

"Richard. Richard Grayson."

"Huh?" she was caught off guard momentarily. "Oh. Artemis Crock, nice to meet you – uh… Richard."

He gave her a goofy grin. She vaguely recognized him. Did she see him before?

"I knew you were Artemis, just wasn't sure if you knew me so I thought I'd introduce myself."

"Well if that isn't slightly awkward."

"Nah, we met at the gala for scholarship recipients. Just wasn't sure if you payed attention to all of the names called," He winked at her slyly.

Oh. So that's where she met him. Wait… Richard Grayson… why does that name sound so familiar?

"You're Wayne's son!"

"Ward."

"Oh, um…."

"Well it was nice meeting you in person Artemis, but I gotta go. I'll see you around," he waved and walked off into the hallways of Gotham academy.

_Richard Grayson…_

_It has a nice ring to it. I think I'll like this kid._

**Reviews feed me. :D**


	6. Footle

**Never wrote Superboy yet, so I decided to take my hand at it. I think it came out alright :3**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Footle - to waste time; to act foolishly_

_What are you doing?_

_What does it look like I'm doing, Conner? _M'gann giggled.

_Making a mess._

_I'm cooking, silly, _she smiled.

Conner rolled his eyes, an action he often had seen Artemis do around Wally. _Good luck with that._

She gave him another of her smiles, those smiles that made him feel good, that made him feel… _happy_. Back at Cadmus, he never thought he'd know the actual definition of the word. Yet here he was, smiling and laughing with the rest of the team. No, the rest of his friends.

They haven't been through a lot yet, it's only been a few months since the team formed. School started for all of them except Kaldur so the mountain was quiet until the evening hours. Artemis would come at odd intervals; Conner can't really find a pattern yet. Wally seemed like he would spend all the time in the mountain, always waiting for something. Superboy had a strong suspicion that he was secretly waiting for Robin. Kaldur would spend his days in the mountain and then zeta transfer to Atlantis for the night. Robin rarely came unless it was training or Batman was going to assign them a mission. From watching the news, Superboy learned that something happens in Gotham almost every night. Robin must be too busy to spend whatever free time he has at the mountain.

That is why he was definitely surprised when Robin arrived on a day that there was no training scheduled. Also, there was no _Batman 02_ following his arrival. Not two minutes after his arrival, Artemis arrived, almost as if they went in one after the other. Conner filed that information for later; he really did not know what to do with it at the moment.

"Hey Supes!" Robin smiled as he came into their living room area.

"Is Kid Mouth around?" Artemis asked, closely following Robin.

"He didn't check in today," Superboy answered dutifully. He also did not miss the slight furrow of Robin's eyebrows at that information.

Definitely everything was not as it seemed.

"Oh Robin, Artemis!" M'gann chose that moment to look up from mixing whatever it was that she was making now. "I wasn't aware that we had a team meeting today."

"We don't," Robin smiled, "we can't come around just to hang out?"

"Did something happen at school?" Kaldur appeared in the doorway with a slight smirk.

"No idea what you are talking about, Kal," Robin smirked in response. "Everything's asterous, as usual."

Conner ignored their bickering, and focused more on how Artemis kept glancing at the door.

_Recognized Kid Flash B03_

"Kid Flash is here," he announced.

"Oh great, I'll be right back." Robin left the room. Artemis seemed to want to follow him, but thought better of it.

Straining his hearing, he decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.

_Dude, that was genius KF._

_Why thank you Rob. It did take a while to come up with that one prank. _

_What do you say next time we paint the Batmobile white?_

_Are you serious?_

_Well, we just pranked your aunt, so now it's my family's turn no?_

_Okay. Same day, same time?_

_You bet. Let's go join the others._

Conner smiled. Perhaps Robin dropping in unannounced is not so bad. It makes everyone happy, and just let him understand his youngest member better. He would bet money that Robin and Wally are at the mountain to hide from Wally's aunt.

Yup, this is happiness.

**Teehee, this made me feel warm and fuzzy.**

**Review please? :D**


	7. Green

**Credit goes to KTrevo for this one ;) **

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Green - __a__color__intermediate__ in the spectrum between yellow and __blue,__an__ effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and __570__nm;__found__ in nature as the color of most grasses and __leaves__while__ growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the __sea._

It was a rare day, a very rare day. A day when the "Trinity of Doom", what everyone else called them, was together again.

They were currently hanging around in Roy's flat. It wasn't much, especially after Ollie's and Bruce's homes. But to Wally it seemed normal, especially the fact that Dick still seemed at ease here just about as much as his own home. He was currently sitting upside down on the couch, like a bat. He couldn't help but snicker at the thought.

"What's so funny KF?"

"Nothing, just had an amusing thought."

"We're not mind readers," Roy grumbled from where he was bringing the bowl of popcorn.

"I was just thinking how Rob looks like a bat sitting like that."

Roy burst out laughing, nearly dropping the bowl of popcorn.

"Not the popcorn!" Thanks for Wally's superspeed, the bowl of popcorn survived.

Dick, however, just smirked. "You aren't the first to tell me that. This is my favourite position and Alfred often jokes how I should call myself Batboy."

"Speaking of names; Red Arrow? Really Roy?" Wally laughed around the popcorn in his mouth.

"Hey Wally, give me some," Dick yelled.

"Don't eat it upside down," Roy chastised, sighing. He wondered how he ended up with these two friends – no, brothers.

"Anyway, stop trying to change the topic _Speedy_!" Robin smirked, eating popcorn upside down.

"It's Red Arrow because it is."

"Green Arrow fixation anyone?" Wally was clearly having too much fun.

"Watch it KF, pretty sure the Red stands for something."

Roy just sighed and hoped he'll survive this little get together.

**Not my best one, but it's alright. Reviews feed me ;D**


	8. Halolimnic

**Rawr, I give you H!**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Halolimnic - of, like or pertaining to sea creatures who spend time in fresh water._

Living on the surface world is not as exciting as other Atlantians think it is. It is definitely not the best thing in the world. Sure, the surface world is interesting and has many inventions that Atlantis does not have, but Atlantis definitely has the upper hand in technology and sophistication.

The Xbox 360 for example. In Atlantis, it would be considered primitive. On the surface world, it's the latest in gaming technology. The Justice League has some of the most advanced types of technology, yet Kaldur can't help but think that it's all inferior to Atlantis. The only member who can relate to him to any degree is Miss Martian, but Martian technology is mostly based on organics. Atlantian technology is inorganic and sophisticated. Truth be told, the bioship puts him on edge. It is organic and can think for itself, to some degree. Technology is machine, inorganic, command able, and he knows that his view is very narrow. He was raised that way.

Aqualad was also surprised that Batman gave them a mission to intercept a ship going from Toronto to Rochester. He never complained when the mission was on water, it was when he had the homefield advantage. But one thing, why couldn't it be a sea or an ocean? Why a freshwater lake?

Atlantis was in the sea, in saltwater. While he could swim in freshwater, he preferred salt water. He wasn't as fragile as the fish, but long exposure to freshwater can hurt Atlantians.

It did not help when one of his teammates was thrown overboard. Especially when that teammate was the youngest, and was unconscious.

Without sparing a second thought, Kaldur dove in after him. Ignoring the weird feeling in his gills due to the freshwater, he continued to swim directly downwards toward the drowning Boy Wonder.

_Hurry Aqualad, his thoughts are fading!_ M'gann yelled through their mind-link.

_It's harder swimming downwards than it is swimming parallel to the surface of the ocean, I'm going as fast as I can!_

He could feel the team's worried emotions mix with his own and forced his body to go faster. Robin's cape was a deadweight in the water, and the boy wasn't conscious to unclasp it. Finally reaching him, he removed the cape letting it continue to sink. Grabbing Robin underneath the arms, he started spiraling upward. An ascent too fast can kill him due to the pressure.

_I can't hear his thoughts anymore!_

Kaldur did not stop swimming, but he started looking for a pulse on Robin's throat. It was there, but very faint. With a dreading feeling, he noticed that Robin had no air bubbles escaping his mouth.

_I have to perform CPR, as in mouth to mouth, _he answered telepathically.

The emotional response he got back was mixed, but at the moment he did not care. All that mattered was to get air into Robin's lungs, and he was going to use whatever he could to achieve that.

Using the gills, he took in air from the water around him. Placing his mouth over the boy's, he breathed out. He repeated the motion several times while swimming to the top. There was the slightest twitch from Robin, but nothing else.

Breaking the surface of the water, he stopped doing manual breathing and waited.

They all waited.

_Is he…? _Kid Flash sounded scared.

_No, he drowned before. He'll be fine, he's Robin, _Artemis sounded hopeful and scared at the same time.

Kaldur heard a gasp and then violent coughing.

_I can hear his thoughts again! They're muted and nothing coherent, but they're there. He'll be alright after rest, _Miss Martian sounded elated. Aqualad could hear the relief radiating from the other members of his team.

"Never scare me like that again, Robin," he murmured as he swam to meet up with the rest of the team.

He thought he heard a "sorry", but it might have been his imagination.

Perhaps it was good that this is freshwater, because saltwater would have definitely had hurt Robin more.

**Definitely not as happy as I'd like it to be. I planned this to be more of a complaining!Kaldur fic rather than Robin receiving the fishkiss of life. Teehee.**

**Review please? :D**


	9. Idiologism

**Even though I don't directly refer to Robin's play on words, this word reminded me of him so I decided to continue my last drabble. This time focusing more on Robin/Kidflash friendship. **

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Idiologism - personal speech peculiarity._

By the time Kaldur arrived at the bioship, Robin was shivering. Aqualad was not aware that humans can vibrate like this naturally; he had only seen Kid Flash do it when he was anxious or nervous. One thing for sure, it can't be healthy.

"Quick, get him some blankets and put him on a bed," Artemis said to the others who were just standing around, staring.

"We have to keep him in an upright position, it's hard to breathe on your back," Kaldur stated. He walked past them toward the half bed half chair M'gann had prepared. "Are there any oxygen masks? Clearer oxygen will help his lungs."

Superboy calmly brought forth the mask and the tank from where they were stowed away on the bioship. Without wasting a moment, Aqualad placed the mask on Robin's nose and mouth and started the machinery.

"Aqualad," Conner begun, unsurely, "he'll be alright, right?"

"I'll let him personally tell you that he's feeling the aster."

Conner's smile was enough to convince Aqualad that he had done his job well.

"Dude, we have a fully stocked med lab on the ship but there are _no_ blankets!" Wally yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "He doesn't have his cape either, that thing is like the only warmth he has."

"What?" Artemis said. "What do you mean?"

"His uniform is made of some super lightweight fabric that allows for his gymnastic tricks. He wanted to ditch the cape, but Batman said no seeing as how that fabric doesn't really keep him warm. The best Batman could do is insulate the cape so he'll have some protection from chilly weather," Kid Flash explained.

"What about the white suit he wore during our simulation?" Miss Martian asked.

"It limits his movement, so he hates wearing it unless absolutely necessary."

"Talk later, we have to keep him warm. He's losing heat," Superboy grumbled.

"There's no choice, one of us will have to share body heat with him. It can't be me, Superboy, or Miss Martian seeing as how our bodies do not really release heat," Kaldur regained control of the situation.

Artemis paled, unable to think of the idea of sharing a bed with a thirteen year old. Wally looked torn for a second before his mind was made up. "This wouldn't be the first time something like this happened, I'll do it."

He ignored the confused looks of the other as he lay down beside the Boy Wonder and hugged him.

"Uh… Kid Mouth, can you please repeat what you just said?"

Wally just smiled and began reciting the events that had happened so long ago.

"_Not your best idea, Rob!" Kid Flash was dodging bullets while trying to disarm as many of the men as he could._

"_How could I know that there would be a bunch of armed henchmen in an abandoned warehouse?"_

"_Didn't you and Bats go on enough stakeout missions to know that abandoned warehouses aren't usually abandoned?"_

"_Well yeah, but still…."_

"He was around eleven and I was thirteen, and we were bored in Gotham. You see, Flash and Batman would work together a lot, the main reason why Rob and I met. They would also both leave us alone to our devices while they finished whatever mission they were working on. Being the troublemakers we were, we strayed from our usual path."

"_Perhaps we can use you two to make a message to your mentors, 'don't send boys to do a man's job'," some nameless goon smirked._

"_And you should grow a pair since obviously you don't want to face our mentors face to face to deliver that message," Robin laughed as he launched a few bat-a-rangs at the goon._

"Naturally, we found something we shouldn't. And naturally, we didn't call for back up. Just like with the Cadmus incident. A fight broke out and we had the upper hand, at least until Mr. Freeze showed up."

"_Boy Wonder and Flash Boy-"_

"_Get my name right. Kid. Flash."_

"_What a surprise," Mr. Freeze continued, unabated. "I expected someone of more… fame."_

"_Yeah, well, guess you'll just have to settle for me and dearest Flash Boy."_

"_Dude!"_

"_KF, the media already thinks we got some serious romance going on over here, and there's apparently a stronger force of romance between our mentors!"_

"_Do I want to know where you read these things?"_

"_Gotham Gazette."_

"_Do you talk like them too?"_

"_Depends."_

_Freeze was getting annoyed. "Enough conversation!"_

_He aimed his gun at Robin who was busy trying to hack the systems._

"_Rob, watch out!"_

"Freeze showed up, and well, froze Rob from the shoulders down. He was out with a cold for a week after it. But after he froze Rob, I broke the gun and hogtied the creeps. Flash showed up and took stock of the situation. Seeing Robin's condition, he told me to carry him back to the Cave while he finished with the goons and Freeze. But seeing as how he was frozen from the shoulders down, I had to thaw him out. I rubbed my hands together fast enough to create friction and used the heat from that to melt the ice. He was passed out by then already."

"_Hold on Rob…." Wally mumbled as he rubbed his hands to thaw out the Boy Wonder._

"_I'm t-t-trying," Robin's teeth were chattering. "Can't you g-g-go any f-f-faster?"_

The chattering is getting worse, I have to hurry, _Wally thought. "Almost done."_

_Finally, he was done and picked him up bridal style. He was unconscious already, and Wally couldn't help but think how adorable he looked. Especially after Robin snuggled into him more, looking for warmth._

"I wasn't as fast back then, so it took me a while to run from where we were to the cave. But for the entire run, Robin snuggled into me, looking for warmth. It was awkward to say the least and none of us brought it up ever again."

The rest of the ride to Mount Justice was spent in silence, at least until Artemis decided to break it.

"Wait, the Gotham Gazette thought Batman and Flash were in a gay relationship?"

"Yeah, Robin called it a 'mance' since the 'ro' makes it awkward. His logic, not mine."

"They don't have a relationship, right?"

"God no! Uncle Barry is happily married."

"Was just making sure."

"What's a 'mance'?" M'gann asked.

"He said it's an acronym for friendship or something. You know how he is with butchering the English language."

**Mance…. I'll start using that word now. It sounds cool!**

**Reviews inspire me! :D**


	10. Jumboism

**I saw this word, and couldn't resist.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Jumboism - admiration for large things._

Megan had baked a cake to celebrate some sort of a Martian holiday. The team didn't mind the cake, but they did mind its size. Not that Wally wouldn't eat it all, but they were doubting the taste of the cake in front of them.

"That is pretty big," Artemis said.

"Wanna know what else is big?" Wally just couldn't resist.

"Pretty sure she wouldn't be _sur_prised, but rather _sub_prised."

**Quite short compared to my other ones, I'll type another one up later that's longer, promise! **

**Reviews feed me :D**


	11. Kora

**Okay, this is slightly crack-y. But uhm yeah, here's K!**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Kora - musical instrument similar to a harp._

"M'gann?" Kaldur questioned, unsurely.

"Yes Kaldur?" she answered sweetly, her ever-present smile in place.

"What is that… thing?"

"It's a kora!"

"A what?" Kaldur was still confused.

"It is a 21-string bridge harp used excessively in Africa," Robin added helpfully from his spot on the couch. He was currently playing Call of Duty with Wally, and winning.

"Dude, how do you know these things?" Wally said in between shooting enemies.

"The Riddler asks some weird riddles at times," Robin didn't bother looking away from the TV screen. A "GAME OVER" sign flashed across Wally's screen, and Robin turned around to look at Megan. "Though I am interested in how you got one."

"I got it at a garage sale while Conner and I were walking home," she replied cheerfully. "I am unsure on how to play this instrument. I bought it because it looked interesting."

"Behold, the great Boy Wonder will now demonstrate his musical skills!" Wally said in a fake announcer voice.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't know how to play that thing," Robin deadpanned. "Nor do I know anyone who can," he added before Megan can question him.

"So, what are we gonna do with it?" Artemis asked, still doing her literature homework.

"I want to learn how to play it!" Megan exclaimed. She picked up the instrument and started trying to figure out how to hold it. At first she tried holding it like a guitar, when that clearly did not work, she tried holding it like a bass. That also failed.

Superboy looked ready to step in to calm his girlfriend after several attempts. "It's okay Megan, I'm sure the League will have a file on a kora."

Robin snorted. "The League doesn't exactly keep files on how to play musical instruments, Supey."

A glare from an over-protective Kryptonian was enough to shut him up.

"You have to sit down and place it between your knees with the strings facing you," an amused voice said from the doorway. The team's jaws dropped momentarily, and Batman used that moment to slip out of the room.

"Dude, Batman can play the kora?" Wally would never let anyone forget this.

"Even I didn't know," Robin mumbled.

**Batman can play the kora! Trololololol. Since my last few have been pretty heavy, I decided to go with something more lighthearted. **

**Review? :D**


	12. Lipogram

**ASddagfh This took forever. I started it like two days ago, lost inspiration and decided to sleep on it. Had no inspiration whatsoever the next day, and then it just somehow came out. Not at all whelmed with this piece, not at all.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Lipogram - piece of writing in which a certain letter is excluded._

It was a normal day at Mount Justice, as normal as it ever gets at least. Every member was present, except for one.

"Robin should have been here by now," Aqualad said. "We have training in five minutes."

"Perhaps something happened in Gotham?" Megan asked.

"It's Saturday morning," Artemis begun, "nothing happens in Gotham on Saturday mornings. Saturday nights, yeah, not mornings."

"Maybe he got injured?" Conner was busy trying to figure out how to switch channels on the TV. Others toyed with the idea of showing him, but thought that the sight was too amusing to pass up.

"Don't even joke like that, Supey!" Kid Flash looked horrified. The entire team had a fear or seeing their youngest member injured. It doesn't matter that he was the most experienced, or that he has been in the business longer than all of them combined, his age still awakened some sort of parental instinct in each member.

"Guys? I think you should see this," Miss Martian sounded unsure.

The team walked over to her and looked at the note on the fridge.

_T Yung Justice,_

_Yur training tday will cnsist f finding several clues thrughut the cave. First being this letter. Nce all f the clues are fund, will cmbat training begin._

"O…kay. Anyone can make any sense of this letter?" Wally looked around at the other members of the team.

"Usually Robin deals with these sort of clues," Artemis said.

"The words seem… incomplete somehow. As if something is missing. Maybe a letter or a punctuation mark?" Kaldur asked.

"O," Conner mumbled.

"What was that, Superboy?" Artemis turned around to look at him.

"O. The letter that's missing is O."

"How did you figure that out?" Megan wondered.

"The first sentence. 'T Yung Justice' is obviously 'To Young Justice', our team's codename." Times like this, Superboy wondered if this was how Robin felt when he explained clues to the others. Some of them were just hopeless at finding clues and putting them together.

"Okay, so the letter O is missing. How is that a clue?" Kid Flash was still not getting it.

"What rooms are there in the cave that start with O?" Aqualad asked Miss Martian and Superboy.

"Well there's the operating room…." Miss Martian begun apprehensively.

"It's a start, let's go."

000

"Aren't we like, breaking sterilization by going in here?" Wally mumbled, looking around uneasily.

"We can always resterilize it later, right now we need to focus on this," Artemis slapped the back of Wally's head. "Black Canary nor Batman nor Robin showed up for training, and this is our only clue."

"Uh guys… look at this." Superboy was standing beside the operating table.

By something that looks like blood, a riddle was written.

_I am ee through, yet I am cloed. I am a room yet I'm outide. What am I?_

"Not another one!" Wally sighed. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"Outide looks like it should be 'outside'. The 's' is missing," Artemis pointed out.

"If we are going with the theme from the previous clue, then the answer starts with the letter 's'," Megan said. "So if we put back the letter 's', it should be read like _I am see through, yet I am closed. I am a room yet I'm outside. What am I?_"

"The sun room." Conner turned to leave.

"Wait, we're in a cave," Wally said it as if it was the most obvious thing.

"I believe Batman had a sun room installed when we first recommissioned the cave. Something to do with Kryptonians needing sun exposure," Kaldur explained.

"Aww, Bats does have a heart," Kid Flash smiled.

"Let's just go to the sun room," Aqualad begun walking to the door.

000

The team's eyes all closed at the momentary blindness that came with going into the sun. The only one that didn't seem to mind was Superboy, who closed his eyes and seemed to take in the sun rays.

"I am cold, and I am hot. You utilize me to create nutrition and I am often raided. What room am I?" Wally read from the words written on the window.

"Hello Megan, the Kitchen!"

"Well that was easy. I think whoever is doing these is slipping up," Artemis followed Megan out of the sun room.

"That, or they think we can't do this," Kaldur mumbled, walking behind Artemis.

000

"Didn't all of this start in here?" Conner asked, looking around trying to spot the new riddle.

"Yeah, so that means that the person setting these up should be in the mountain!" Wally exclaimed, a smile on his face. "Quick Rob, tap into the security came-oh, right, he's not here."

"Aren't you a genius," Artemis said sarcastically. "Anyone find our next clue?" She was already having her doubts as to who was setting these up. _It's probably Robin, playing a prank on us._

"Yes, it reads _I am iving right over_," Aqualad motioned to the counter top. The message was written in mustard. "The 'iving' is missing a letter."

"I am living right over?" Kid Flash suggested.

"Doesn't make sense though, what is living right over?" Artemis looked around. "Wait… right over means beside in other words. So something is living right beside the kitchen, and that could only be the living room!"

"Artemis, you are quite good with the riddles," Kaldur smiled.

"Comes with the job. There can't be only one detective on a team," she winked.

Everyone moved into the living room, and this time no one had to look for the clue. On the TV screen, the message was bright and clear, written in white among a black background.

"_I am he op, I am he peak. Only he brave can come o me, I lie waiing," _Artemis struggled with reading the clue out loud.

"The letter 't'?"Megan suggested. "The 'he' between 'only' and 'brave' doesn't fit, but if it was 'the' it would make sense."

"So it would be read: _I am the top, I am the peak. Only the brace can come to me, I lie waiting_," Kaldur repeated the message, though they understood now.

"The fact that it's on our TV screen means that this person has access to it or that they're a good hacker, I'm worried. This goose chase has gone on for too long," Artemis reached for her bow.

"Artemis, wait," Kaldur begun, "we were supposed to train with Robin and Black Canary today in something other than combat. What if _this_ is our training?"

The team paused. It did make sense.

"So what's the answer to this riddle?" Wally asked.

"The peak of the mountain, Kid Idiot," Artemis sighed. She'll play with whatever game Robin was playing with them right now, but if they have to solve another riddle, the Boy Wonder better run.

000

"Took you guys long enough, I was starting to get cold," Robin smirked from his perch. He was sitting in a crouch on the railings, his back to the sea. "The view was entertaining only for the first ten minutes, then it started to get boring."

"So it was you!" Wally seemed to want to tackle the kid to the ground, but seeing the position he was in, thought twice.

"Yeah, Batman's orders. Wanted to see if you guys can solve a mystery without me holding your hand every step of the way, so to speak."

"And we did," Artemis reached for her bow. This time no one stopped her. "Now it's time to pay for wasting our time."

"Was it really such a big waste of time Arty?" He didn't seem fazed by her weapon at all. "It took you a while, but you just proved to Batman that you guys can solve a mystery on your own."

**Meh, it was alright in the end. I think my clues were lame, I need to learn to write riddles.**

**Review? :D**


	13. Myophobia

**I feel much much better about this one than the one before this one. **

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Myophobia - fear of mice._

Artemis was lounging around in the library, doing homework. In other words, the usual for a school night. Batman did not give them missions on school nights; most of the time anyway. She had a strong suspicion it was because Robin himself had school studies to attend to. That, or the other mentors teamed up on him stressing the education of their charges. Robin was a genius after all, so missing a few days of school won't kill him. Conner and Megan were, in her book, the usual run-of-the-hill students in high school. Though she had a suspicion that Conner already knew everything from Cadmus's forced education. Kaldur did not attend high school, and to be perfectly honest, Artemis had no idea what he did during the daytime. Perhaps training with Aquaman? And Wally was… Wally. She didn't know what to make of his book smarts. From his conversations with Robin, he seemed pretty intelligent in science and mathematics.

She stared unseeingly at the Shakespeare book open in front her. _Whoever thought up that putting Shakespearian literature into the curriculum of grade eleven English is going to pay._

She sighed. "Time to get to work, this homework isn't going to finish itself," she mumbled to herself.

Just as soon as she picked up her pen to start writing her notes, a shriek echoed through the cave. Completely disregarding whatever she was about to do, she pushed her chair back and bolted out of the library.

Outside the room, she nearly crashed into Kaldur who was also startled.

"That scream," she begun.

"M'gann," was his simple answer.

Wasting no time, they both started running toward the kitchen.

Artemis tried really hard not to look at Kaldur, but she couldn't help it. His expression oddly reminded her of Robin's expression when the Red's attacked the cave. It was calm, cool, and collected. He was not letting emotion rule his movements right now, all that mattered was their end objective and nothing more. In this case, the end objective was to get to M'gann and see what caused the scream. The possibility of intruders was very slim after the Red incident, the Justice League made sure to foolproof the security systems. Could it be that something happened to her, like a Martian disease? Or maybe someone from the team attacked her? The possibilities were endless, and Artemis soon regretted starting listing them.

Both of them burst through the kitchen doors, and were momentarily stunned by the sight before them.

Wally was eating cookies while watching TV, sitting upside down on the couch. That wasn't the weird part.

The weird part was Megan hanging onto Conner's upper body, all the time wildly pointing to an animal on the ground. Conner, for all he's worth, looked like he was trying to obtain heat vision staring at the creature like that.

And the creature was a harmless mouse.

Robin appeared behind the shocked Artemis and Aqualad, looked at the scene, smirked, and turned around. "Now all she needs to do is shapeshift into an elephant."

**Robin, you're such a troll. Never change *heart***

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	14. Neonatology

**Saw this word, and couldn't resist. I mean there's a ton of fics where the team gets de-aged. But what if they were left in the possession of some unnamed baby? ;)**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Neonatology - study of newborn babies._

Robin was unsure of what to make of the scene in front of him. Conner was being his usual self and sulking off to the side of the common room, but Robin did not miss the gentleness of his eyes as he watched the scene in front of him. The scene of Miss Martian holding an infant that couldn't have been older than a few months and cooing. The baby, for all he's worth, seemed genuinely interested in her skin and kept trying to smear it off her face.

_Smart baby_, Dick hilariously thought.

The baby, having enough of trying to get rid of the green make-up, started crying. Robin had to stifle his giggles at Megan's startled expression as she looked on at Wally for help. Wally, seeing her eyes on her, quickly looked around for something to occupy himself with. Seeing nothing that will help him, he had no choice but to come forward and take the baby from Megan's arms. At first, he looked unsurely at the bawling baby in his arms, holding him in front of his face. After several seconds, which might have been minutes in the speedster's mind, of vigorously studying the baby, he seemed to have an idea. Holding the baby to his chest, he started rocking it back and forth.

That seemed to calm the baby down. Robin then realized that he didn't know the gender of the baby nor its name, though the latter shouldn't be surprising. Babies can't talk, so unless this baby had a collar on him – which he didn't – they wouldn't know his name until someone claimed him. He still didn't quite understand why Megan even brought the baby to Mount Justice, these sort of things should have been handled on scene. In other words, she should have handed the baby to the local authorities and left it at that.

"Next time, I'm going with Miss M and Superboy on the rescue fire missions," he mumbled to himself, hoping that Superboy did not hear him.

Back to the current problems, how should he refer to the baby? Robin's been referring to it as male for now, but for all he knew it could be a girl. Should he just call the baby 'it'? That just seemed wrong.

"Uh guys… is it female or male?" he asked the team.

All of their eyes widened momentarily, before Wally cringed. "If you want to, you're welcome to check Rob."

"No thanks," Robin started, "was just wondering what I should send the police. 'We have an ungendered baby in our position and ask that someone comes and claims it' sound good?"

"Don't call her an it!" Megan looked horrified.

"Since when did we establish that the infant – or is it outfant – is a female?"

"What the hell is an outfant?" Wally asked, trying to control the mass in his arms.

"Well you know. If an infant is someone in a family, wouldn't an outfant be a lost infant?" Robin mused, forgetting about the current issue for a short time. "Anyway, stop trying to distract me—"

"You were the one that started butchering the English language!" Kid Flash interjected.

"And let's get back on topic," Robin finished. "We have to do something with this baby, which should have been handed to the local authorities and soon as Superboy and Miss Martian stopped the fire. Aqualad?" Robin finally turned to the team leader who wore an amused expression on his face as he watched Wally distract the baby.

"Huh?" Kaldur looked momentarily confused. "Oh, the baby."

"Yes Kal," Dick sighed, "The baby." Was he the only one who could keep him head on his shoulder when he saw an infant – no, an outfant?

"We should just go to the nearest police station and hand him – her – over to them," Artemis said; the only other voice of reason at the moment other than Robin.

"Yes," he was relieved. "Wally, go to the police station and give them the baby. We'll all go back to our normal lives after this."

"Why should I do it? Con and Megan were the ones who brought her here, and they should carry her out too!"

_Again, I ask myself, when was it established that the baby was a female?_ Robin sighed. He was doing it too much lately. "Fine, give the baby to Miss M, and she could go to the police station—"

Megan floated over to Wally, and took the baby in her arms. Still flying, she went – flew? – to the hangar doors.

"And for God's sake, don't fly him there!"

"Her!" was the absent-minded call of the retreating Martian.

"Remind me to never give this team anything adorable or cute. Nor take them to an animal shelter, I'm sure Conner would be willing to adopt every single animal there," Robin said, looking at Artemis.

She nodded, silently agreeing with him.

**The mental image of Wally holding a baby in his arms and rocking it back and forth was too good to pass up.**

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	15. Opisometer

**I felt like writing an Artemis troll story.**

**I do not own young Justice**

_Opisometer - instrument for measuring curved lines._

Wally hated math. He loved science, but he hated math. It's weird, science and math usually go hand in hand, but Wally hated math. In a way, that was what made him and Robin such a good team. Robin had the math, Kid Flash had the science.

So now Wally found himself in this predicament. There was a line, a _curved_ line on this paper. He had to use math to find the length of that line.

Last he checked, Bruce Wayne and his ward, Richard Grayson, were in Paris for some sort of conference. That usually meant to Batman or Robin until they get back into the US. He toyed with the idea of calling Dick and asking what the hell he should do. It should be simple enough, right?

Banging his head on the desk, he looked up around the library again. Barry and Iris were still at work and Wally didn't feel like dealing with his parents yet, so he opted to just go to Mount Justice for the day. Until dinner anyway. Then he would go back home to Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris and chat with them and all will be right in the world again.

Now though. Now he had to solve this problem or Uncle Barry will be disappointed.

He looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. He half expected it to be Superboy, but it was Artemis.

She walked over and looked over his shoulder at the problem. Smirking, she reached into her pocket and withdrew an instrument. She placed the clock like object on his desk and walked out of the library.

After a few minutes of figuring out exactly what the thing was, Wally smiled. Making a mental note to thank the archer later, he wrote down the answer. He left the mountain feeling happy with himself.

When Robin got back a few days later, he asked him to do the same question. After Robin solved it, it did not match the answer. At Wally's baffled expression, Robin laughed.

"You do realize these pictures aren't to scale right?"

Wally never wanted to kill anyone more than on that day.

**Quite short, but there weren't many good words with O, so I just went with this one.**

**Review? :D**


	16. Planetolatry

**Decided to do a change of pace. Instead of humorous drabbles, I tried my hand at writing a neutral scene of some shack or something. Also helped me practice something I haven't done in a while.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Planetolatry - worship of the planets._

The room gave the entire team a weird feeling. With faint moonlight escaping past the shredded remains of curtains on a grime-encased window illuminating the room, it gave everything it touched an ominous feel. The room itself was not grandiose. It was relatively small and packed, bookcases lining two of the four walls, and the one wall without a bookcase had a messy desk. They could not see the presence of any sort of technology in the room, much to Robin's dismay. In order to find information, they had to do it the old-fashioned way.

Technically, this was not an official mission. They had come to this house because Aqualad felt weird energies at use. In a world where sorcery is not common, it was worth investigating the source of the energy. In reality, the team was only out for a relaxing roadtrip around the states on Miss Martian's Bioship. Superboy had not seen many of the wonders of the world, and Kid Flash felt that it warranted some touching on. Red Tornado saw nothing wrong with it as long as they were back by dinner time due to Wally's and Artemis's "parental restrictions". He did not mention anything about Robin's curfew.

Conner noticed Robin take out his utility belt and opened his mouth to ask why he would need it. Before he could voice his question, the protégé of the Dark Knight took out a flash light and turned it on. Giving Superboy a wink, he shined the light around the room.

At first it was nothing interesting. The window was beside the door and there were no other doors leading out of the room. It was just a one room shack. The next thing Robin shined his light on was one of the bookcases. If they thought Wally was disorganized, they didn't think so now. The bookcase was overflowing with books, the shelves not collapsing only because of the support of the books below them. Charts were hanging out at odd angles. Written notes in undecipherable scribbles could also be seen.

The youngest member took a few steps toward the bookcase only to be halted by the leader. A silent shake of his head mentioned that they shouldn't venture fully into the room just yet.

Shrugging, he continued lighting up various aspects of the room.

Next was the desk. Like the bookcase, it looked like whoever was in the shack left in a hurry or was simply disorganized past help. They could not only see graphs, charts, and notes, but also news clippings from various newspapers that looked old. The paper was falling apart on some and the writing illegible.

The second bookcase was in the same disarray as the first one.

Bat training kicking in, Robin ignored the questioning looks of the others as he shined the light onto the ceiling. Smiling a victorious smile, things started making sense. On the ceiling was a hanging replica of the Solar System. The only difference from the current ones sold in stores was that Pluto was included.

Ignoring Kaldur's warnings, the bird walked further into the room. Walking up to the desk, he started examining the carious news paper articles. The ones on the very top were too yellowed with age to make out, but as he moved those aside he could start seeing newer ones; some from as early as the 1900's. There was one connection between all the titles; they all had to do with the planet Pluto.

After reviewing some more notes, Robin let out a small cackle and turned to leave the room.

Once outside, the team turned to look at him.

"So, what did you find?" Artemis was still looking back at the shack uneasily.

"What forces you felt at work here, they are not evil Kaldur," he said absent-mindedly. "Whoever owns this place is interested in Planetolatry. Nothing harmful."

"Plane-what now?" Wally asked.

"Planetolatry, or the worship of planets in layman's terms. I don't know much of its origins, just know it exists. And before you ask, Riddler asks weird riddles. **(1)**"

Everyone else shook their heads and made way back to the Bioship. It was a nice learning experience for everyone.

**(1) I'm referring to one of my previous drabbles. I believe it was "Kora" where Robin explains what it is. When the team asks him how he knows, he simply says "Riddler asks weird riddles".**

**It was interesting write. A change of pace from my humour oneshots, definitely. Tell me what I can do to improve! :D**


	17. Quoz

**Well, I just realized that I'm over halfway done. And my tumblr dash is being spammed with gifs from the new Avengers trailer that aired during Superbowl. Right now I'm wondering if I'm the only one who is not watching Superbowl but it planning future fanfics and writing random original crap in a red spine notebook.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Quoz - absurd person or thing._

"Wally, I usually have no problem with your souvenirs, but what is that?" Aqualad could not get over the new addition to the 'Trophy Case'.

"Can't you see? It's some awesome thing and I'm gonna figure out what it is!" the speedster replied with a bright smile on his face.

"So let me get this straight, KF," Robin begun, arms gesturing madly; he needed to work on that. "We go on a mission, get sent to some other planet slash dimension through a weird light thing, fight aliens slash unknown race—"

"Aliens and unknown races are essentially the same thing," Miss Martian put in.

"You take a piece of random tech, and you bring it back to our secret HQ," Robin finished, unperturbed by Miss Martian's interruption.

"That pretty much sums it up," Artemis said.

"I can't say if you're sometimes an idiot, or if you are an idiot all the time," Robin sighed. "Did you think of _all _the possible _repercussions _of something like this?"

"Uh, no?" Wally put on his best poker face.

"Let me rephrase the Boy Wonder's question, Bay Watch," Artemis stepped forward. "Is your brain able to think at all?"

"We brought Sphere and Wolf back," Conner said. Even in the neutral tone the clone usually used, they could feel the unspoken assumption that they were doing this just to pick on Wally.

"I checked both of them over for bugs before we entered the cave," Robin recalled.

"Sphere is alien technology, something could have been in it and we would have never known. I kept it though."

"Enough. Now that Superboy mentioned it, this is not fair to Kid Flash. Until Batman comes to hear our mission report, this thing stays here," Kaldur's tone left no room for argument.

The next hour the team spent in their own corners. Robin retreated to who know where, probably hacking some government again. Wally was still examining the piece of technology he had picked up from their latest mission that had once again gone wrong. Kaldur was swimming, as he usually did in his spare time. Miss Martian was baking food; the team hoped it was something edible. Superboy was spending quality time with Wolf and Sphere, once again realizing how lucky he was that he got to keep them. Artemis had claimed the living room floor and was polishing arrows for their next mission.

"Team, report to mission room," Batman's low voice echoed throughout the cave. At once, all members of Young Justice stopped whatever they were doing and made their way to the mission room.

After a brief recap of the fight and the intel they had gathered, Aqualad brought up the question on whether Wally could keep his souvenir.

Robin could see the displeasure on his mentor's face, knowing that it was caused by them disregarding the safety rules set down: No unknown items in the cave unless screened beforehand at an unrelated location. But they had broken that rule enough times, especially Superboy, to have Batman give in already and realize that it was a lost cause to enforce that rule.

He took the worm-like thing in his gloves, cringing at the sounds it produced.

"Are you sure it's alien technology and not some sort of life form?" Batman asked, looking at the thing from all possible angles. He made sure not to place his face directly under it in case it decides to do… something.

"Great, just what we need, another food eating machine like Kid Flash," the archer smirked.

"Hey! Super fast metabolism, remember?" he replied, matching her mocking tone with his own.

"I'll let Flash know to come by and check it out once he has a spare moment, but yes you can keep this thing in the meantime," Batman drew the final conclusion. He gave back the worm-like thing to Kid Flash and left the room.

The good thing about Clark being raised on a farm that he had enough animals to take care of, so he didn't bother taking in anymore strays. Bruce was pretty sure that Mr. and Mrs. Kent would have not let Clark have random animals from the street anyway. Conner, however, wouldn't be raised in the same environment, so that aspect of Superman's personality would never be changed. Batman guessed they would just have to tolerate it for now.

He couldn't help but think of what the thing would eat and if the Justice League's food bills would go any higher. Damn Queen with his playboy manners and losing his company. **(1)**

**(1) I read somewhere that in this universe Oliver Queen doesn't have his fortune. If anyone can confirm this it would be appreciated.**

**Well this was meh. It sounded epic in my head, honest! Leave me a review, you guys inspire me :D**


	18. Raad

**I think I'm a Robin/Kaldur bromance train over here. Saw the name and I immediately though "KAL IS A FISH WITH ELECTRICITY, LET'S MAKE ROBIN BOTHER HIM ABOUT IT."**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Raad - electric catfish._

"Uh Kal?" Robin asked unsurely. He was standing on the edge looking into the lake – ocean? – in the mountain. He knew that the water fed here comes from the surrounding ocean, after being filtered through various filters. Someone as paranoid as Batman thought that an enemy will plant microscopic, organic lifeforms that will feed back intel from inside the mountain back to their owners so they installed filters that filtered the water for radio feedback, electricity, and whatever else anyone could think of.

"Aqualad?" Robin tried again, a bit louder this time.

He waited for a few more seconds. If it weren't for his observant nature, he would have thought that Kaldur did not hear him again. However, barely, he could see a dark spot growing larger on the far side of the pool.

In a few more seconds, Aqualad's head broke the water and he swam toward Robin's location.

"What is it Robin?" he asked, not getting out of the pool.

"Sorry to interrupt your evening swim, but I got this paper for school and it's about aquatic creatures so I thought maybe you can – " Robin paused, "give me some pointers?" he finished, flashing one of his best smiles at his leader.

"I don't mind, what is the creature you are researching?"

"Raad."

"The electric catfish?"

"You know about it?" Robin was surprised. When he was assigned the fish, he honestly did not know anything about it let alone its existence.

"Yes, it's what surface dwellers called it. In Atlantean is has a different name," Kaldur explained, getting out of the pool. "If I recall correctly, the Egyptians were the first that discovered it. Its shocks can go up to 350 volts and it primarily uses it to shock its prey before eating it. It's also nocturnal, only hunts in the dark."

"Woah, you know a lot about such obscure species," Robin smirked.

"Not a lot, just the basics. A lot would be considered me detailing its anatomy and eating habits by month and moon cycle," Kaldur said off-handedly. "It can also be used to treat some nervous systems, but in present day there are better methods. Ancient Egyptians used the electricity quite a lot."

"Wow, you know more about Raad than the research material given to us!" Robin smiled.

"You're welcome," was Kaldur's soft-spoken reply.

"One more thing and I'll stop pestering you."

"I would not call this pestering, friend," the Atlantean smiled, "merely you trying to learn more about the world which you live upon.

The masked hero let out a laugh. "Yeah. Anyway, back to the question I wanted to ask you. If imperfect is the opposite of perfect—"

"Oh no."

"Then is impressive is the opposite of pressive?" Robin finished with a smirk. "You see, instead of something being awe inspiring, it doesn't inspire anything!"

"Perhaps I could suggest Artemis for anymore language art discussions? I'm well versed in Antlantean, can't say the same for English."

**All info about Raad came from Wikipedia. Yeah. And I've been thinking about more Robin-esque words and couldn't help but think of 'impressive'. I should start a dictionary or something. Pretty sure I came up with at least 5 more words in this drabble.**

**Reviews inspire me! :D**


	19. Sciaphobia

**A lot of you are going to hate me for this, but I thought it would put a nice twist on the series. And sorry for the long wait, but classes seemed to have drained my creativity so it took me a while to find inspiration. I have a pretty good idea for T, so don't fear, the humour will return!**

**But for now enjoy my semi-serious drabbles. **

**I don't own Young Justice.**

_Sciaphobia - fear of shadows._

Wally was afraid of small rooms. He was claustrophobic, and his team was well aware of that. All of them accepted it. They all figured it was due to his powers that being locked up in small rooms made him antsy. And the longer he spent in enclosed spaces, the more he wanted to bolt. At some point, it comes to when Wally feels like a trapped animal wanting to be let out. So as a general rule, much to Robin's dismay, they avoid vents and small enclosed spaces as much as possible.

Of course, if that is the only choice they've got, Wally would have to suck it up and go in.

Kid Flash wasn't only claustrophobic when he himself was in small spaces, he was also claustrophobic when it came to watching others go into enclosed spaces.

"Rob, are you sure you're going to be fine? We should let Miss Martian or someone else go!" Kid Flash was at the point of pleading with the Boy Wonder.

"Relax KF. I'm the smallest and the most agile of the team, it's the logical choice to send me in. I'll be in and meeting with you guys inside before you know it," Robin smiled in hopes of reassuring his friend. "I just need to go ahead so I can hack the systems, that's all."

"But still!" Kid Flash wasn't letting on.

Aqualad, watching this exchange, decided it was time to cut the fight short. "Kid Flash, let go of Robin's cape and let's start the mission," he ordered in the tone that left no room for argument.

Wally didn't look too happy, but he let go. Giving them all a thumb up, Robin got up into the air vent and disappeared from view.

Now Robin was completely different from Wally. While people may think that he would hate enclosed spaces due to growing up in a circus and being an aerialist, he actually found comfort in them. Since he was a child, he would sneak into his parents' closet when a particularly bad thunderstorm hit. As he grew older, the safe spots ranged from underneath his covers in Wayne Manor to Bruce's cape.

He did not enjoy it when those small spaces were full of shadows. He didn't mind if it was all pitch dark or if it was all light, but when he saw shadows, that's when it hit. Batman had trained him to hide in the shadows and that shadows are his friend. Looking up to Bruce as a rolemodel who had changed his own fear of bats into a symbol of justice, Robin eventually got over his sciaphobia. It didn't mean he didn't get jumpy.

Taking a deep breath, Robin crawled forward. He could go fly once they got back to the mountain, but at the moment they had to complete this mission. And this mission involved him going through vents and hacking all security protocols in place.

_Robin you almost done?_ Artemis's voice echoed in his thoughts.

_I don't have super crawling speed, I'm still getting there, _he grumbled in response, making his displeasure evident. Displeasure at what was left to be interpreted.

Coming up to turn, Robin looked around the corner. Seeing more shadows and a few spots of light coming from the open spaces, he took a calming breath. _Now's not the time to chicken out Grayson,_ he thought to himself. Shadows were his friends, there won't be any two-faced villains leaping at him from them in this vent.

Coming up to a switch panel, he used a bat-a-rang to peel off the covering before connecting his USB cable. _Beginning hacking, _he relayed through the mental link.

While his preplanned algorithms did the work, he entertained himself by listening in to the team placing bets on how long it'll take him to hack. Wally was putting all his worth into the complete belief that Robin would only need 2 minutes. Artemis was being doubtful and saying 5 minutes. M'gann was happy to say that he'll hack this faster than anyone else on Earth, although she wasn't too sure about technicians on Mars. Superboy and Aqualad did not participate in the bet-placing, but their amusement was evident.

_Okay, all sensors are on a constant loop, we're in guys! _He disconnected his cable and checked how long it took. _Looks like Artie's taking this one Wally. It took me 4 minutes and 47 seconds._

He could hear Artemis's victorious cheer and the beginning of a taunt. _But only because I got lazy and used an algorithm. If I did it manually it would have taken me around 2 minutes. _He cut her taunt before it could begin.

_You traitor! _Wally pouted.

_Head to the rendezvous point, Robin, _Kaldur quickly reminded everyone what was the mission about.

_Already heading there, ETA 3 minutes._

Yes, he might be afraid of shadows. But shadows also concealed him and gave him the protection he needed. He grew up in the shadows, and if the shadows ever did strike back, he knew who he can depend on. The team will always be there for him when he needed them, just like he'll always be there for them. If all else fails, the nocturnal creatures who thrive in the shadows will save him, in more way than one.

**Sappy sappy ending. Meh.**

**I need more inspiration for humour! My first idea was to have Wally develop a fear of shadows because of Robin constantly sneaking up on him, but then I wrote this. And my mind is too dry to rewrite this, so yeah.**

**Review? :D**


	20. Tarantella

**So one of the good friends is an Italian, and she was with me when I was relatively planning this fic out. Believe it or not, I had a few words prepicked :P But yeah, we had a lot of fun imagining this dance because we were too lazy to go on YouTube and look it up (we redefine lazy).**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Tarantella - __fast violent Italian folk dance._

When the mentors arrived at the mountain, the sight that greeted them was slightly, if not at all, awkward.

On the holo-floor in the mission room there was a message in messy handwriting which Batman instantly recognized to be Robin's. After the brief message, there was a small drawing of all the Young Justice team in various chibi forms, each obviously drawn by their real life counterparts.

The message was simple enough:

_We went out cause you guys took too long. In our defense, we waited ten minutes! Find us around Happy Harbour, we didn't go too far. We might have left our comlinks behind, we aren't too sure._

_Love, YJ._

The mentors, needless to say, were not impressed.

"They ditched their comlinks?" Barry didn't believe what he was seeing.

"I find that Kaldur'ahm would not let them engage in such activities," Aquaman said.

"M'gann wouldn't leave without telling me, she was really looking forward to this," J'onn was confused.

"It's a game," Batman sighed. "Robin's doing."

"What sort of game is it ditching us like that?" Barry exclaimed, speeding up to the Dark Knight and staring him in the eyes. Granted, it didn't have the same effect as the Flash had desired due to the difference in height, but it sort of worked. Only if it wasn't the Dark Knight but any other man.

"He wants us to find them," Bruce simply stated.

"Are you suggesting that we four, fully uniformed superheroes, go into Happy Harbour to look for 6, most likely out of costume, teenagers?" Aquaman was making sure he understood it right.

"Unless you want to physically look for them, no," Batman sighed as he walked up to the consoles. "They left their comlinks, but Robin didn't mention anything about his computer or our private comlink."

"So you're going to trace him using your own gadgets?" Flash asked.

"Not necessarily, I'm more interested to see what it was that caused them to leave the mountain like this." After typing a few keys on the holographic keyboard, Batman was finally able to pinpoint the location of Robin's transmitter. Zooming out, he was able to determine the rough location of the transmission. What surprised all of them was that it was coming from the Happy Harbour fairgrounds.

"Isn't there an Italian festival in town this week?" J'onn wondered. Before any of them can ask how he knew such information, he said, "M'gann was very excited, she kept on telling me about it."

"It's certainly in the correct location." No one dared question Batman how he knew about the location of the ongoing Italian Festival.

"Great, now contact Robin through your fancy toys and tell them to get back here. Today it was a training session between mentors and students," Flash said, zooming up to the holographic screen.

Batman just smirked and typed some more commands on the screen. After a few moments, various surveillance cameras came onto the screen displaying the fairgrounds from various perspectives. Before the other members of the Justice League could question Batman, each camera zoomed in onto a group of teenagers. There were four of them, recognizable by their hair colour. Aquaman instantly spotted his apprentice's light hair and was surprised to see him a small smile on his face. Martian Manhunter was the next to spot his charge, recognizing her long hair as she swirled around the floor holding onto Superboy's hands. On her face was a beaming smile. Superboy just looked uncomfortable, but they could see the ghost of a smile on his face. Artemis was sulking beside Aqualad, but it was just an exterior.

What they saw next shocked them all, mostly Flash and Batman though. In the center of the small clearing created by the onlookers, they could see the red haired speedster doing something that looked like _dancing_ with a black haired boy they could only assume was Robin. Both of them had stupidly large smiles on their faces as they danced around each other. Before Flash or Batman could comment on what they were seeing, they started throwing wild punches at each other.

"They took the meaning of Tarantella to the next level," Bruce dryly stated.

"Meaning?" Aquaman asked.

"Tarantella is a fast, violent Italian folk dance. Violent usually means that it's fast-paced and loud, not literally violent," Batman explained. Before the others could question from where the knowledge came from, he added, "Riddler's riddles have eccentric topics at times."

"Well it looks like they're enjoying themselves," Barry smirked. "And besides, dancing is a nice team building exercise."

At the others' incredulous looks, he shrugged innocently.

"I'm just surprised that Robin chose Kid Flash as his dance partner," J'onn mused.

"I think he would have felt bad for punching Miss Martian or Artemis, and punching Aqualad or Superboy is like punching a brick wall. He went with the logical choice, Kid Flash." Batman closed all the surveillance windows, deciding that they would have their privacy for now. It did not mean that he wouldn't look these feeds up later at the Batcave.

He ignored Barry's insulted "Hey!" as he made way for the zeta tubes.

**Teehee, I can just picture Robin and KF doing the dance while randomly punching and kicking each other. The dance will end with Robin's customary slap on the back of Wally's head.**

**Review? :D**


	21. Urbicide

**Okay honestly, I'm surprised no one brought up the issue on just how much property damage the League/YJ/and heck, even the Teen Titans cause. Really? How is Bruce not bankrupt paying for these repairs?**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Urbicide - destruction of a city._

"Hey Bruce?" Dick asked as he casually walked up to the computer chair, or BatChair as he dubbed it. Acknowledging the slight turn of the head that the seated man gave him, Dick continued, "Would this make Superman a murderer?" He handed him a printed sheet of paper and on it was one single definition.

"Urbicide?" Bruce raised an eyebrow. Without the masked eyes of The Bat, the expression looked almost comical.

"Yeah, the destruction of a city. Have you seen Metropolis after Clark's last fight with that guy… Mango?"

"Murder is killing people, not buildings."

"But what about all the bacteria and insects and life forms living inside the buildings? He's technically killing them!"

Bruce sighed. He had predicted that Dick would bring this up sometime, and frankly he wasn't ready to answer it. "Would you prefer people die instead of cockroaches?" He used those pests on purpose, amusing himself by watching his ward try to maintain a straight face. Teenagers, how amusing it was to poke fun at them.

"Well no-yes-I mean… nevermind," Dick sighed. "I think I'll go to the mountain, be back in time for dinner." With that, he picked up him sunglasses and made way to his R-Cycle all the time muttering something about this being totally no _pressive_. **(1)**

Watching him walk toward the bike, Bruce couldn't help but let out a breath he was holding. Pressing a key on his holopad, he waited until Clark picked up.

"What's up Bruce?"

"I averted a crisis, but I suggest you look up urbicide and find a way to work around it," Bruce said in the voice of the bat. Not bothering with pleasantries, he cut the connection and went back to working on finding a new pattern to Two-Face's attacks.

Elsewhere, Clark was confused. Borrowing Lois's intensely high-tech phone, he used Google to look up Urbicide. His face must have paled a few shades because Lois was shooting him a questioning look.

Damn Robin and his obsession with words. How is he going to explain this to the kid?

**(1) Referring to my last play on words where I had Robin wonder is pressive is the opposite of impressive.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this one! Took me a while to find a good work for U, let alone find inspiration for it. But I think I did alright. Leave me a review! :D**


	22. Ventricumbent

**So this originally was a shot at a Supermartian scene cause I can't write sappy stuff to save my life, but then I changed it to snapshots of the teens in various on-the-belly positions, and well Wolf came into the picture and I got this. Pretty sure after rereading this, I think I implied Dick/Wolf in here, so take this as uh… crack? And I assure you, that was not intentional. But trust me, huge dogs lying on your back can be comfortable if done right. And the back kneading? Best massage I ever got. Seriously. Yeah.**

**I don't own Young Justice.**

_Ventricumbent - lying on one's front or one's belly._

Robin hummed to himself as he waved his legs back on forth. Lying on his stomach with his elbows supporting his upper body, he typed more codes on his holographic pad. Potentially, if this code used correctly, it could solve the League's problems with long distance space communications.

Being so engrossed in his work, he did not notice the silent footfalls approaching his spot on the living room couch. He did feel it when the warm, furry body—

Wait, furry?

Interrupting his train of thought, Robin twisted his upper body to look at what just climbed on top of him. In a moment of panic, he realized that in the position he is not it would be impossible to reach for a bat-a-rang or any sort of weapon from his utility belt.

He immediately relaxed as he recognized the white fur coat of the resident pet.

"Oh, it's just you Wolf," Robin smiled. "Give a guy some warning before you climb onto his back, would you?"

Wolf just gave the boy a look that said _Really? You're the guy that jumps onto people without sparing a second thought and uses people as jungle gyms and you're asking me for a warning? _

"Oh great, I'm giving verbal translations to Wolf's looks," Robin mumbled to himself as he turned back his attention to the screen.

A few minutes passed in relative silence until Wolf decided that it was time to get more comfortable on the bird's back. Moving his paws, the enhanced canine tried to find a soft spot. After several seconds of moving, he seemed to find a decent spot and decided that now he was comfortable.

Robin, meanwhile, was feeling as if he was in heaven. While Wolf was treading all over his back, to Dick it felt like a professional massager was working out all the kinks in his back. He couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh when Wolf finally got comfortable again.

Going back to his coding, Robin couldn't help but think of how warm Wolf is and how comfortable the heat was making his body. It was as if he was enclosed in a big, puffy comforter on a snowy winter night.

"Now I see why Con kept you," he mumbled sleepily.

He heard a small whine or something of the sort from the canine before he drifted off.

And that was how the rest of the team found him. The holoscreen was still on giving his face a blue highlight, and his shades were resting on the tip of his nose. Wally couldn't help but take out his cellphone to get a picture. The fact that Wolf was snoring made it even more adorable.

He zipped off to get the rest of the team. It only took a few minutes mainly because the rest of the team didn't have superspeed like Wally did, but it was worth it.

Wolf seemed to have awakened from his nap and was kneading Robin's back with his paws. Robin's contented sighs and incoherent mumblings with a smile on his face were enough to tell the team how he was enjoying this treatment.

"Dude, why doesn't Wolf give me massages?" Wally complained. "Running makes more knots in my back than anything Rob ever does."

"Have you seen his flips?" Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure after that, a nice backrub does wonders."

"We shouldn't disturb them," Kaldur smiled.

The team silently agreed. Their youngest deserved a break, but it didn't mean that they won't download the cave security footage and use it as blackmail later on.

Everyone left the room, leaving only Conner. "Good boy," The Boy of Steel walked up to Wolf to rub him behind his ears.

Wolf gave, what Superboy assumed was, a happy bark.

"You always have the wellbeing of my friends in mind, don't you Wolf?" With that, Superboy left the two occupants of the room.

**Yeah, This made me feel really happy. I don't know why, but I think it's because now I miss my old pet. Oh well.**

**Leave a review? :D**


	23. White

**This took a while to write, there were just so many ways to write this one. Special thanks to KTrevo with the idea, it was them who suggested it in a review after my "Footle" drabble : )**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_White – do I seriously need to define this word?_

"Cameras on continuous loop," Robin whispered.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Wally whispered back. "I mean, I can run home and be relatively safe, but you live with the guy!"

"I'll be fine," Robin made sure to draw out the last word. "And besides, I don't think you'll be safe at your house so don't count on it. He'll follow youuuu!"

Wally turned a few shades paler.

"Okay, let's get this done," Robin moved away from the shadowed corner of the cave. "Bruce is at some conference in Washington with Alfred, Leslie's supposed to be watching me. But she had an emergency at her clinic so she left me alone for a while."

"When is Bats coming home?"

"A couple of days."

"Plenty of time," Wally yelled over his shoulder as he ran to get the bucket.

"You seem pretty whelmed about it now."

"Shuddup!"

"Great comeback."

"Shuddup!"

"I don't even feel like commenting on that intelligent comeback."

"You're being a real dick y'know?"

"How original."

"Shuddup!"

Robin sighed. "You got the paint?"

He felt a brief breeze before an excited face appeared before him holding a metal bucket in the air. "Yup, pure white just as you wanted it leadah!"

"Stop calling me that and let's get to work." Robin withdrew two paintbrushes from his utility belt and held one out to Wally.

"You carry brushes around with you in your belt?"

"Same compartment as the chalk."

"Har har," Wally muttered as he moved toward the sleek black car.

Neither boy can ignore the adrenaline that was pulsing through their systems as they worked on painting the sides of the batmobile white. The original idea had to paint it all white, but it would be a pain to clean it off once they will be caught – and they both know that they will be caught – so they opted to go with the wash-friendly paint and minimize the surface area they'll have to wash later. After further thought, they thought that just covering the windows and mirrors with white paint will suffice.

Especially since Leslie could return any moment to check on her young charge.

"I'm done on my side," Dick couldn't help but grin widely as he regarded his work.

"Same," Wally ran over to his friend and they both admired the transformed vehicle.

After a couple of minutes of just looking at the repainted batmobile, Wally excused himself and ran back to Central City. Placing the cameras back on their usual settings and turning off the electricity in the Batcave, Dick made his way back to manor to wait for the Wayne Family doctor.

Two days later, Dick had looked at the flight schedules and made calculations so that he will be in Mount Justice when Bruce arrives back to the manor. From previous experience, he knew that the cave was the first place Bruce visited when coming back from prolonged stays away.

_Recognized Robin B01._

"Rob!" exclaimed Wally while running up to share a bro-fist.

"Hey KF," Robin smiled. "Anything interesting going on?"

"Not much, I was just watching Kaldur and Conner play air hockey."

The two friends moved toward the holographic air hockey table. The Atlantean and Kryptonian did not acknowledge their presence, solely focused on the intense game of air hockey before them.

Robin whistled lowly. "That's one intense game."

"Tell me about it."

After a few more moments of regarding the game, the zeta tubes sprang to life.

_Recognized Batman 02._

Wally's and Dick's faces paled and they both gulped. Aqualad and Superboy paused their game to look expectedly at Batman, thinking that he was here to dispatch them on a mission.

Instead of walking up to the leader of the team, Batman walked up to Kid Flash and Robin. Stopping a few feet away from them and making sure his cape covered his body, he narrowed his eyes and regarded the two coolly.

"Whose idea was it?"

Wally and Dick shared a look before responding in perfect sync, "Kaldur did it!"

With that statement, Robin climbed onto Kid Flash's back in a speed that could have rivaled Superman, and Kid Flash ran further into the mountain.

Aqualad and Superboy both watched the exchange in silence.

Batman did not make way to pursuit the two boys, instead standing and staring at the doorway which the two of them ran out of.

"Excuse me, Batman?" Aqualad began uncertainly. "What exactly did I do?"

"According to those two, you came up with the idea to paint the batmobile's windows and mirrors white."

Superboy couldn't help but hold back an amused snort. So those two did go through with the prank after all.

**I'm referring to Footle at the end I believe. **

**I'm so sad that there's just three more chapters left : ( I had a lot of fun writing this, and thank you to all my lovely reviewers :D I have another YJ story in the works and I'll try to pick up Fight again, so stay tuned. I'm working on the plot right now and most likely the new one will start as soon as I finish this drabble series.**

**Leave a review if you have any ideas for X or Y ;) Z is already taken I'm afraid, but those two are still open!**


	24. Xanthippe

**Late from my usual an-update-a-weekend schedule. To be fair, I did write two new stories last weekend, you can check them out on my profile :D One is a Chalant (sort of) fic, and the other one is a DickBabs story. So if you're interested, go check them out! :D**

**I hope I continue to live up to your expectations of light-hearted oneshots filled with humour. I also hope I managed to capture their characterization in this one.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Xanthippe - ill-tempered woman._

"Dude, what's her problem?" Wally zipped over to the small teen sitting on the couch.

"What's whose problem?" Robin raised an eyebrow, not looking up from the lap top on his lap. There was this really complicated piece of encryption that Batman gave him, and he was not going to give in. He was definitely going to solve this before going back to Gotham. Yeah. He was.

Four attempts later, he was ready to do throw the lap top into the wall, or more like into Wally's face.

Wally, in the meantime, was having a blast watching the Boy Wonder. Rob hardly showed any negative emotions, and seeing him getting so worked up over some letters in a seemingly random pattern was amusing for the speedster.

"That smirk's creepy," Robin finally said, after taking a few calming breaths.

"I know."

"So stop it."

"No."

"Seriously KF."

"No."

"And you say Artemis is the one with the problem?"

Wally's expression changed from smug to terrified. "Have you _seen_ her today?"

"No," Dick couldn't help but wonder what was going on that caused Wally to have such a reaction.

"You should."

"Not sure I really want to after your reaction."

"No, you do."

"Nu uh."

"Yah."

"Nah."

"Don't lie to me Rob!"

"I'm not lying!"

"You so are!"

"No I am not!"

"What exactly is going on between you two?" a female voice cut in.

Both boys looked up to look at the newcomer.

Robin couldn't hide his smirk, and Wally immediately disappeared from the room saying something about cookies.

"KF was wondering what your problem was, I was telling him to mind his own business," Robin explained in a completely truthful tone.

"Uh huh, and pigs fly."

"He was right, you are extremely snarky today."

"Watch it Boy Wonder."

"I suggest you do." Robin laughed one last time before closing his lap and standing up.

Artemis was about to slap him on the back of the head as she usually does with Wally, before she noticed something. "What? Where'd he go?"

**This was really fun to write. **

**This is your last chance to drop in requests. There's only Y left :D Two more chapters and this fix is over D: **

**Review? :D**


	25. Yonderly

**I am so sadddd. Only one more to go guys D:**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Yonderly - mentally or emotionally distant; absent-minded._

"Is everything alright?" Miss Martian couldn't help but ask.

Kaldur looked up from the sea, surprised. "Everything's just fine, Miss Martian," he smiled.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry," M'gann floated closer to Kaldur, "but I'm sensing great turmoil from you. I'm not reading your mind or anything it's just that I can sense your emotions at the back of my head and well—"

"I understand, M'gann."

"So, uh, what is the Earth saying? A penny for your thoughts?"

"I am just reminiscing of earlier times," he gave her an encouraging smile.

"Earlier times?" she repeated innocently.

"Yes, before I became Aqualad."

"And what was it like?"

"Atlantis is not like the surface world. I've been practicing combat and the mystic arts before I became Aqualad, we have a military to maintain. But back then, I never really expected to go forward. I expected to become a soldier and finish at that. But now…" he paused. "Now I'm a leader of a team consisting of amazing heroes, and even better friends."

"I know what you mean," Megan turned her head away from Kaldur and looked out across the ocean and toward the sky. "On Mars, society is very different too. We're in the middle of a civil war, so I have hardly experienced normal life."

"This must be a very hard time for your people."

"It is, but we'll get through it," Miss Martian brightened up, throwing a charming smile onto her face. "I know I'll get through it, I got the team and everyone supporting me."

"No matter what, we will always be there for you M'gann," Kaldur regarded her with a happy expression. "Remember that."

"You should remember that too, Kal. We all get homesick, but it is a family that makes a home, is it not?"

"Yes, a family does make a home. And my family is right here, but Atlantis will forever be my birthplace."

"And no one is asking you to change that," M'gann landed on her feet. "We just want you to know that if you want the mountain to become a more permanent home, we'll always be here to make it homey."

"Thank you."

"Anytime." With one last smile Kaldur's way, Miss Martian floated back toward the entrance of the Cave.

The mountain had become like a second home to Aqualad, but Atlantians needed to be in salt water. He was literally a fish out of water whenever he was on the surface world. The team is important to him, but as a leader he has to maintain some form of distance. When it all comes down to it, he is still a soldier of Atlantis. And as a soldier, he must remain professional.

**Some M'gann and Aqualad bonding, cause there's not enough of it!**

**Leave a review? :D**


	26. Zebra

**This took way longer than I originally planned it to. I hope it lives up to all of your expectations regarding this fic.**

**I want to take a moment to thank every single person who had reviewed, alerted, and favourited this story. You guys don't know what it means to me. This is the first fic I completed in the last three or so years (not counting oneshots and my one twoshot). Thank you for sticking with me all the way! Hope you enjoy the last installment of **_**Absconding Zebra**_**.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

_Zebra – An animal with white stripes on black body or an animal with black stripes on a white body. No seriously, what did you expect me to write here?_

"Bats, I found one!" Flash exclaimed as he ran up to the Dark Knight carrying a striped animal. In his hands was a baby zebra with a collar on it saying the number two.

"Good, now as for the others," Batman acknowledged.

"Others?" Barry asked.

"Its collar. It says number two, so most likely there's a number one around here too."

"Greeeeat," Flash rolled his eyes underneath the mask. "Where should I put this one in the meantime?" The zebra was starting to recover from its superspeed adventure and was kicking with all its might.

Bruce sighed; these children were going to be the death of him. "Lock him – her? – in the hangar for the meantime, I'll figure something out once we find all of the zebras."

Barry took one more look at the kicking zebra in his arms before rushing off to lock it in the hangar.

The teens had called them saying that it was an emergency. Worried, the mentors instantly rushed to the cave to see what the emergency was. Needless to say, Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Martian Manhunter had arrived to an empty mountain. No, not empty, there were animals in it - zebras to be more precise.

It was J'onn who had detected it first. When they arrived, they thought that the kids had ditched out on them or were in trouble somewhere else in Happy Harbour. After J'onn performed a quick mental scan, he reported animals and promptly flew off. Flash was the first one to find the animal with the collar.

Batman had a strong suspicion that the appearance of the zebras had something to do with the disappearance of the team. Usually, those sorts of situations ended disastrously, heavy on the _dis_ as Robin would say.

"Bats, you're not gonna like this one bit," Green Arrow huffed as he ran into the room, clearly out of breath.

Alarmed, Batman turned around to glare at the archer. "Explain."

"J'onn found another one, he's bringing it to the hangar 'cause Flash said to bring them all there—"

"Get to the point Queen."

"It had a collar with the number 4 on it."

At that moment, J'onn flew in empty-handed. "I have placed zebra number four in the hangar with zebra number two. I cannot get any accurate readings on just how many animals are in the cave at the moment, but there are no other humans other than ourselves at the moment."

"So the kids are missing and we're left with a cave-full of zebras." Oliver sighed, what did he do to get him into this again?

"For sure we need to find number one and three. Whether we find anymore is questionable. I'll use the cameras, you continue searching by foot," Batman said with an air of finality. He turned away from the heroes and summoned a holographic keyboard.

Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow shared a look before the latter shrugged and walked back into the mountain. J'onn followed.

000

"You're a genius."

"I try, KF."

"How much longer must we be absent from the mountain?"

"No idea, depends on how long we can keep ourselves entertained Kal."

"I do not like the idea of worrying my Uncle like this," Miss Martian frowned.

"Relax Miss M, they aren't worrying. They're probably thinking we got turned into zebras by some villain or something," Robin snickered.

"That makes it even better!" Kid Flash sped up to Robin to get a high five. Robin happily obliged.

"Almost every mentor except Aquaman and Superman came," Artemis said, looking at Robin's holographic screen over his shoulder. "Wonder where those two went off to, I think our emergency signal was pretty effective."

"My King has other obligations in Atlantis at the moment and is currently unavailable to all surface missions," Kaldur explained from the side.

"And it's a good thing Big Blue didn't come," Robin looked up from his holographic keyboard. "If he did, they would have found the animals too quickly. The walls aren't lined with lead in the mountain, y'know."

"Maybe he just doesn't care," Superboy mumbled from his spot beside M'gann.

"Conner, I'm sure he cares. He probably just had some other… commitment to attend to. He's the Man of Steel," she smiled, trying to get the clone's mood up.

Superboy gave no vocal answer, but the team could see him shift slightly closer to her.

Wally was about to add another comment, but Robin shushed him. "Black Canary found our number one zebra."

"Dude, where did you even get those zebras?"

"Connections."

"I'm betting bribes were also used," Artemis smirked.

The Boy Wonder gave no answer than a small increase in his smile. "So how long should we wait for?"

"I believe Batman would figure out the farce soon," Aqualad offered his input. "I don't think he earned the title of the greatest detective on Earth based on empty achievements."

"Nah, he can be dense when it comes to pranks," Robin replied, typing to get better shots of the locked up zebras and the mentors meeting up to begin the search of zebra number 3.

"I never thought I'd see a day when the words Batman and dense would be in one sentence," Wally shook his head. "The world is ending."

Maybe they were taking this a little too far. The only real excuse was that Batman hadn't assigned them any missions of two weeks now and they were getting tired of being locked in – especially M'gann and Conner – without anything to do. So they decided to hide out in the schoolyard of Happy Harbour High School and spy on their mentors. What's the fun in spying without a little action?

As per the Boy Wonder's and the Faster Boy Alive's ideas, they had gotten three baby zebras and put collars on them with the numbers one, two, and four. The idea was that they will find those three zebras and will continue to search everywhere for the number three zebra, which was non-existent.

Kaldur was reluctant at first, Conner and M'gann were completely indifferent to it though. Megan was only worried about causing her Uncle undue stress. Artemis thought the plan was completely devious and was in immediately.

"It's been half an hour and they're still looking for the fourth zebra," Superboy remarked idly. He and M'gann had moved from standing beside Robin, to sitting with their backs leaning against the school wall.

"This is too hilarious," Wally laughed.

"Think we should call it in?" Robin asked.

"I believe we should," Kaldur answered.

"Aw, already?" Artemis whined. "This is so good though!"

"It's been going on for long enough."

"Okay, let's go?" Robin begun to shut down his holographic computer system.

"I think Batman and the others are going to kill us," Wally begun, "but you know what?"

"What Baywatch?"

"I regret nothing!"

000

"You could be charged with animal cruelty—"

"We didn't physically hurt the animals."

"And on top of that you worried us sick! We thought you kids were in trouble."

"Come on Black Canary, we've been locked in this cave for so long that we don't know what to do with ourselves!"

Green Arrow smirked. "Artemis has a point. You put six teenagers together in a cave with unlimited resources and you expect them to play nice?"

"Whose side are you on Oliver?"

**This is actually based off of a true story. For senior prank week in my high school (back when I was in grade nine or so), the seniors brought in three goats and numbered them 1, 2, and 4. The entire day the staff spent searching for number 3. I don't know how that story ended, but it was pretty hilarious watching your vice-principal chase a goat down the hallway.**

**I hope you all liked this fic. I certainly enjoyed writing it. It was a great experience, and now I shall turn my writing to a more serious outlook. Perhaps I will start another series in the future, so keep an eye out of my future fics!**

**Thank you.**


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